Lily’s Library – Sunkissed: Dirty Dancing Did it Better

The 80s have some of my favorite movies of all time. Pretty in Pink, St. Elmo’s Fire, The Outsiders, Flashdance, Working Girl, and of course, Dirty Dancing. A time where music was fundamentally dance-worthy, and stories revolved around teenagers and the plight of growing up under the watchful eyes of parents. The basis of a good movie or book, in my opinion, has both. So, in theory, Sunkissed by Kasie West should have been a homerun. But in execution, it falls incredibly short and makes me yearn for the stories of Dirty Dancing or The Breakfast Club and their rebellions against authority, stereotypes, and forbidden love. With out-of-touch lingo and relationship building that is all too unbelievable, I can’t help but want to rewrite my own version with all of the potential that lays within the pages. So, let’s get into what I did like, didn’t, and how I believe the story could have been done in a way that didn’t make it a Dirty Dancing knockoff that missed the mark.

Unbearable main characters with the “not like everyone else” mentality are the bane of my existence, as I think they are most consumers. I don’t want to read about a girl who is “different than the rest of us” as if the rest of us are something to sigh and roll your eyes at. Unfortunately, with the main character of Avery, this is what we get. She believes her sister can’t possibly have an empathetic or intelligent bone in her body because she enjoys blogging about her life and is actually shocked to find out the talent she possesses. Perhaps, if she had spent her time talking with her sister instead of shutting her out because she doesn’t like to listen to the same sad music she does. I mean my sister and I could not be more different in our interests, but I view her as one of the most intelligent, compassionate, and inspiring people I know. I feel this way because I know her. This tends to be a common trend throughout the novel as well. As Avery continues meeting people throughout the camp, she seemingly becomes best friends with them in seconds and gains access to all sorts of “camp staff only” amenities. If I was running this show, there would be locks on doors. I mean, friendships don’t realistically happen this way. I could not imagine meeting someone, speaking all of three words to them, and then allowing them into private areas of my job. But maybe that’s just me. In other words, I feel as though Avery is developed to the point that she becomes a caricature. She uses outdated lingo that a parent would assume their child uses when really no one talks like that. People fall in love with her in mere fleeting glances, and everyone wants to be friends with her despite professional boundaries existing. She doesn’t seem real. She seems like a version of a girl that someone who has never met a modern teenager imagines her to be.

Our male protagonist is not much better. While Avery seems overdeveloped, Brooks is very underdeveloped. We know little to nothing about him besides the insights that Avery offers us that I am hesitant to accept, and the small tidbits other side characters add. From what we do know, Brooks has a rocky homelife with tensions between his parents and isn’t quite social in other settings. But that is quite literally it. Oh, and he likes music. But then that is it. From the little that is offered to us, I feel as though Brooks has such potential to be a character that represents those real-life challenges of family relationships, health problems, and the normal turmoil of being a teenager. So many have had random things thrown at them that there are expected to deal with when in reality we just want to go to school and finish our homework. Not to mention, he is so nice to people. He tries and mend arguments between his friends, vouches for Avery if she gets herself in trouble, and spends his time helping her complete activities on her bucket list. All the while, he’s working a fulltime job, auditioning for a music festival, and caring for his family. But instead of a multifaceted character, we get a grumpy man-child who never explains himself. Why do they do this.

*Sign* What could have been. I think the biggest downfall of this book was its length. It was simply too short. If West had dedicated more time to developing friendships, relationships, and MAIN CHARACTERS, we could have had a winner on our hands. Instead, we are left we 200-or so-pages of what I would consider wasted potential. As a result, I must give the book 2 sunscreen bottles out of 5. Pretty generous in my opinion.

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